Mr Plunkett, who will take up his new role on October 1, previously spent 11 years as a non-executive chairman in Tullow Oil. During his time there Tullow grew from a small firm to Africa's largest independent oil company.

He currently holds the same job at T5 Oil and Gas, a private company set up three years ago focused on acquiring oil and gas assets in Africa and the Middle East.

"Pat requires no introduction in the exploration and production sector," said Providence chief executive Tony O'Reilly.

"We very much look forward to benefiting from the extensive knowledge and experience that Pat will offer as we move forward with our very exciting programme offshore Ireland."

The company also announced that Phil Nolan would retire from the board from October 1. Mr Nolan had been a non-executive director since 2004.

Mr O'Reilly paid tribute to Mr Nolan and Mr McCarthy.

"On behalf of the whole team at Providence, I'd like to extend our sincere thanks to James who has helped guide the company through a very difficult period from late 2015 through mid-2016, which culminated in the very successful re-capitalisation of the business in July 2016," he said.

Over the last couple of months Providence has upped its stake in an oil prospect off the South West Coast after Exxon Mobil pulled out of the field.

The appointment follows a balance sheet revamp at Providence. In July the company repaid a $20m debt it owed to Melody Business Finance.

That was after shareholders also recently approved plans to raise €65m in capital through the sale of shares to both new and existing investors.